hezbollah ised -- entrenched in the lebanese government. lebanon since 2009 has been subordinated by the serious issue. and syria, we have come full circle, going from engagement with russia are assad, to pressure, even greater pressure on assad and we had in 2008. assad himself is probably regret in the support for al qaeda in iraq, which is coming back to bite him. when it comes to iran, i was reading an article recently in preparation for a different ,peech about the negotiations the president saying, the last offer we made was meeting with -- was met with a relatively positive response from iranians. we were feeling optimistic, but we have to give them time and space of keeping our options on the table. that article was from 2006. that tells you little bit about how this issue has or has not changed. this is the issue that feels the most similar to where it stood in 2008. there are more sanctions. i ran past nuclear program has expanded as well. program hasclear expanded as well. elsewhere, we have had arab uprising. even in 2008, our c